Viktor & Rolf - Flowerbomb

I don't know why it's called Flowerbomb. Yes, the official list of notes suggests all kinds of flowers, such as jasmine, rose, orchid and freesia, but every time I tried this Viktor & Rolf creation in the last five years, I got baby Angel.

It's the fruity patchouli, of course. I do smell the plastic rose note, but even that one feels fruity and Barbie Pink instead of something found in nature. Flowerbomb is not as cluttered and violent as Angel, but it has that  sweet junk food vibe. I mentally place it in the same category with Miss Dior Cherie, Hanae Mori and Coco Mademoiselle, only more pretentious than the first two and less calculated than Chanel. They all follow a similar formula for what is considered young and yummy- chocolate-fruit-musky drydown. The fruit in Flowerbomb is a bit more abstract. Sometimes it reminds me of strawberries, other times it's peachy. The musk is the same one you find floating in the air of most department stores. It bores me to death.

The best thing I can say about Viktor & Rolf's contribution to the genre is that it shows a little more restraint. Maybe it does have more floral notes in the heart that give Flowerbomb some delicacy and keep it from fumigating cubicles and elevators all over creation. It's not a bad representative of this style and the generation that wears it, I just don't like it very much.

Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf ($100, 1.7 oz) is available from Sephora and most department stores, and judging by the number of samples I tested for this review, they are easy to come by.

Photos: Flowerbomb anniversary cake from trendland.net, Judith Leiber strawberry cupcake clutch from neimanmarcus.com.